CREEPING TOADFLAX 219 



wicks of lamps ". " Duffle " is the name given it because of the soft- 

 ness of its leaves, like a textile fabric so called. It is called " Feltwort " 

 from the felty leaves, and also Flannel. Hag-taper is from A.S. hcge or 

 haga, a hedge, from the usual place of growth, and taper because it is, or 

 was, used as a torch. Mullein, Mollen, is wolleyn or wullen = woollen. 



Witches used it in their potions according to the superstitious. 

 Boiled in milk the leaves have been used as an emollient for coughs. 

 It used to be called Candela from its use as a light. The down on^the 

 leaves makes a tinder. It is cultivated in gardens and makes a showy 

 plant. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



226. Verbascum Thapsus, L. Stem tall, erect, simple, downy, 

 leaves woolly, decurrent, ovate, crenate, flowers light-yellow, in a 

 dense spike, some filaments woolly. 



Creeping Toadflax (Linaria repens, Mill.) 



This pretty flower is found in West Europe in the N. Temperate 

 Zone to-day, but is not known in any early deposits. In Great Britain 

 it is found in West Cornwall, S. Devon, N. Somerset, I. of \Yi^ht. 

 S. Hants, W. Sussex, W. Kent. Surrey, Herts, Berks, Oxford, Bucks, 

 Bedford, Monmouth, Worcester, Warwick, Stafford, Glamorgan. Bre- 

 con, Carmarthen, Pembroke, Cardigan, Leicester, and Rutland, N.E. 

 Yorks, Westmorland. It is rare and naturalized farther north. In 

 Ireland it is very rare, occurring also in the Channel Islands. 



Creeping Toadflax is a plant of waste places, and has the same sort 

 of distribution as Common Toadflax, with which it hybridizes. It is 

 on the increase, being extended by railways, and is especially abundant 

 on the banks of the Great Western Railway near Reading. 



In spite of the second Latin name meaning creeping, this plant has 

 not a conspicuous creeping stem, but the root is creeping, and the stem 

 usually erect, simple or branched, slender, woody, smooth, very leafy. 

 The leaves are linear, whorled or scattered in fours below, close. 



The pale-blue, violet flowers with veined corolla are borne in a 

 loose raceme, rather long, with calyx as long as the capsule, and 

 lance -shaped sepals. The spur of the corolla runs nearly parallel 

 to the tube. The capsule is flat, with seeds wrinkled transversely 

 and elevated ridges. 



Creeping Toadflax is about I ft. in height. The flowers are late, 

 blooming from July up till October. The plant is perennial, and 

 propagated by seeds. 



